What it is
Monetary unit sampling treats every dollar in the population as a sampling unit, so large items are selected more often. It suits tests of overstatement where few misstatements are expected, such as receivables, inventory and investments, and it ends in an upper limit on the amount of overstatement.
This workbook sizes the sample from the book value, tolerable and expected misstatement and the risk of incorrect acceptance, using reliability factors from the Poisson distribution and the AICPA expansion factors. It selects items from a pasted listing of up to 1,000 items, flags items above the interval, and evaluates misstatements with the Stringer bound.
When to use it
- Testing the existence and valuation of receivables, inventory or other populations with a skewed distribution.
- When few misstatements are expected and the objective is a bound on overstatement.
- Documenting how a sample was sized, selected and evaluated.
What’s inside
- Sizing: reliability factor, expansion factor, sample size and interval
- Selection of items from a pasted listing, with individually significant items flagged
- Evaluation: tainting, ranked projection, incremental allowance and upper limit
- Factors tab showing the reliability factors at each confidence level
Standard cited
This template follows AU-C 530 / AU-C 330. It is written in our own words, except for phrases the standard requires the document to contain, with [bracketed placeholders] for client details, amounts in USD and dates as MM/DD/YYYY. Check it against the current standard and your firm’s methodology before use. See AU-C 530 explained, AU-C 330 explained.
Questions
What reliability factors does the workbook use?
They are calculated from the Poisson distribution and rounded up to two decimals, which gives 3.00 and 2.31 for no misstatements at 5% and 10% risk, and 4.75 and 6.30 for one and two at 5% risk. These are the standard Poisson confidence factors used in monetary unit sampling.
How does the evaluation treat understatements?
Monetary unit sampling tests overstatement. Understatements are listed separately and not netted against the overstatement bound. Zero and negative items cannot be selected, so test them with other procedures.
What happens to items larger than the interval?
They are selected with certainty and evaluated at the actual misstatement. Only items below the interval have their misstatement projected from the tainting.
Related templates
- Attribute Sampling Sample Size Worksheet
- Accounts Receivable Confirmation Letter (Positive)
- Confirmation Control Log (AU-C 505)
- Summary of Uncorrected Misstatements (AU-C 450)
Last updated 11/05/2026. All free templates.